:.::..:..:Microphone fiend:.::....:::.
By:Brian Solomon
Credit:SmackDown! Magazine Holiday 2003
When It Comes to Rapping, Cena's the Real Deal

As a wrestler who also happens to be a rapper, John Cena has gotten more than his fair share of disrespect. But he's used to that.

"Nobody takes me serious," he explains. "And the thing is, I don't give a f***. When you hear the product, you'll know that I take myself seriously. I don't care what somebody who is not me thinks is real. I live for hip-hop music; I bleed hip-hop music; I was raised on hip-hop music. I may not be from the five boroughs, or from Compton, or any inner city. But at the same time, it's all about the music. It's the same connection that every single person gets when they hear the music, regardless of where they came from or what they went through growing up. I feel that connection, and I try to portray that in my music. When you listen to this album, you're not gonna be listening to a wrestler trying to rap, you're going to be listening to a kid doing whatever the hell he can to send his message through the hip-hop medium."

Cena is talking about his debut rap album, Basic Thuganomics, which at press time was due to be released in January. The concept of Cena cutting a record started out a little over a year ago, when WWE gave him a chance to do a little rapping on TV. Then WWE gave Cena the chance to create his own hip-hop entrance theme. Before long, the SmackDown! Superstar decided to take it to the next level, and began work on a CD, which WWE is more than happy to help promote.

"I haven't gone the road that most MCs have gone," he says. "This is kind of a different path-but by the same token, I'm still trying to get mine like everybody else. Like Rakim said, a real MC is somebody that can move the crowd. I've never done live shows, I've never been in the studio, I've never come out with a series of records, I've never rocked parties-that's the role of an MC. A year ago, when this all started, I was just a kid spittin' lyrics on TV. This has evolved into something bigger and better than that, to the point where I can move a crowd, where I'm rockin' in front of 15,000 people and millions at home watching every single week. I'm hittin' up radio stations and freestylin' the booth."

Cutting an album is something Cena never imagined he'd have the opportunity to do. But then again, so was becoming a WWE Superstar. Both are fulfillments of lifelong dreams. In fact, Cena's passion for beats and rhymes predates his passion for bodyslams and suplexes.

"The MC thing happened way before the wrestling thing," he remembers. "I've grown up pretty much on hip-hop music. I've been freestyling since I've been 13 years old, but I'm from a small town, so I really didn't have any street cred. I figured I had no chance of becoming an MC, it was really just something I used to do in my spare time."

Despite his interest in rapping, Cena maintains that his priorities are the same as they were when he started competing in WWE last year. Although WWE has high hopes for the forthcoming album, and many insiders believe Cena has the potential to cross over from sports-entertainment into the world of hip-hop in a big way, Cena's heart remains in the ring.

"This was not planned as a venue for me to try and showcase my MC talent," he asserts. "It all happened by accident. I started wrestling because I loved wrestling. That's my true passion. I love this business. When I started way back in Ultimate Pro Wrestling(UPW), I had no aspirations of making it big, I just wanted to do it because it was something I always wanted to do. I got seen by the right people, had a little bit of good fortune, and I'm here. I thank my stars for that."

Maintaining his dedication to his "full-time job" has not made things easy for the aspiring MC. If anything, the rigors of the road may have been something Cena didn't fully consider when he first headed into the studio. It's been the biggest, most unexpected challenge of producing the album.

"Our [WWE] schedule, as everybody knows, is wall-to-wall," he says. "Every day we're doing something. Usually, when musicians do their thing, they'll go into the studio and record for a series of months. I haven't missed a day of work-not a match, not a media day, not a promotion day-and I got the album done in about six months. That's good time for pretty much holding down two jobs, instead of just going in, recording full time, and then afterward promoting and touring. I'm recording, promoting and touring all at the same time.

"With the schedule we keep, I don't know how many outside appearances I'll be able to hit up, but at every live event, I'm always battling fans in the parking lot," he says, in reference to the rap-offs that are part of hip-hop culture. "I'll do whatever it takes to promote the album, but first and foremost, wrestling is why I'm here. As far as being able to promote, I'm always promoting. That's why I battle people in parking lots."

What some fans may not realize is that Cena has written all his own rhymes from day one. Every rap you've seen him perform on TV has been the product of his own imagination. For John, it's something that's of major importance in being a serious MC.

"On TV or on an album," he says. "Somebody can ghostwrite your s***, so nobody knows for sure where your skills are, where you're coming from. The true rappers who get rep are people that f***in' hold down the streets, that will rock parties, that will go and just battle with people. MCs that at the drop of a hat can just throw their stuff down. For me, that's fun. I'm not trying to prove anything, that's what I do in my spare time."

Cena's take on his music is raw, rugged and unadulterated. Shunning the materialistic "bling-bling" mentality of much of today's mainstream hip-hop, he prefers to take the music back to its roots. It's the same philosophy that inspired the steel chain and padlock he wears around his neck-as opposed to the gold and platinum ones usually worn by top MCs. He's not about the Cristal, or the shiny suits. He's the epitome of "keeping it real."

"Hip-hop right now is a little bit skewed," he says. "The four elements of hip-hop are MCs, breakdancing, graffiti and DJs. Nowadays, especially with the retro surge, you see breakdancing, you see graffiti, you see MCs. But I haven't heard a song with a DJ in forever. The DJs are reduced to just playing their sets at radio stations, or at clubs. We bring back the DJ, we bring back cuts, we bring back scratches-I don't know how commercial this album is. This is hip-hop music the way hip-hop music was set up. It's changed, it's evolved, but we're trying to reinforce that it's still good music in that form."

Is John Cena destined for hip-hop superstardom? Quite possibly. But whether or not that happens is not his main concern. Cena is serious about his second career, and has a true and genuine love for the music he's making. It's all about the music, and Cena intends to stay true to it, no matter where it may take him.